"I'll tell you what, Ralph, it will be a long while before Texas is as civilised as Georgia," he observed. "Will it ever be as civilised, Dan? I heard father say last week, when he was talking to Brossom, that he never thought it would be,--so long as Texas was joined to Coahuila and belonged to the Mexican Confederation. He said Texas ought to be free." "He is right, too,--we ought either to be free, or else belong to the United States. It's all well enough for the Mexicans living in Coahuila to belong to the Confederation if they want to, but they don't care for us Americans, and they are going to grind us under if they can." "But they were glad enough to have us come in, weren't they?--I mean at first." "Yes, when Stephen Austin came in with his first batch of emigrants they welcomed the newcomers with open arms, and gave each man a large tract of land for himself, one for his wife, and more land for each child or servant, and they were mighty glad to have other _empresarios_ bring in emigrants, too, so I've read in the papers. But now they are getting afraid that the Americans will overrule them, and there is bound to be a lot of trouble sooner or later." Ralph was anxious to show his brother his prize, and as they neared the spot where the big deer had been brought down he ran on ahead, and so the talk on State affairs came to an end. But Dan was right, there was much trouble ahead, as we shall see as our story progresses. The cottonwoods passed, the boys faced another small clearing, where a forest fire years before had lain many a towering pine low. Beyond this burnt and barren spot were the pecan-trees overhanging the river, where the deer had come to slake his thirst when Ralph had trailed him and brought him low. "Oh, Dan! The deer's gone!" The cry came straight from Ralph's heart, as with staring eyes he ran in under the pecan-trees and gazed at the spot where the game had rested less than an hour before. "Gone?" repeated the brother. "Then you didn't kill him?" "Yes, I did,--I am sure of it, for I turned him over after he was shot. Could some wild animal have carried him off?" "More than likely, although it would take a pretty fair sized animal to tote a deer, especially if he was as big as you say. Let us see if we can find any tracks." They began to search around the bank of the stream, and soon discovered a number of footprints. "Indian moccasins!" exclaimed Dan. "Ralph, you were right about that Indian. He was watching you, and after you left the deer he came in and took possession." "But he hadn't any right to do that," burst out the smaller boy, angrily. It cut him to the heart to have his first big game taken from him. "It's downright robbery." "It certainly wasn't fair, but about its being robbery, that's questionable. You shouldn't have left your game without leaving something on top of it, a knife or anything, just to show that you were coming back for it." "But this is father's land."